A WASTE company boss has been sentenced to 150 hours unpaid work after he illegally dumped more than 5,500m3 of waste on his farmland in Kingsley.

Christopher Keith Hale appeared before Vale Royal Magistrates Court on Thursday where he was also ordered to pay costs amounting to £8,148.58.

He had previously been found guilty of five charges after a three-day trial which took place at the beginning of November. Environment Agency prosecutor Jenny Frieze told the court that between March 2004 and October 2005 he knowingly permitted controlled waste to be deposited on his land on four occasions, and one time allowed controlled waste to be kept on his land.

An inspection of the site in March 2004 and subsequent investigations by officers from the Environment Agency revealed that Hale did not hold a licence, despite running a waste management business Soiltech Solutions Ltd. He failed to take any steps to prevent any further dumpings of waste on his land, with significant amounts dumped there for 19 months.

Environment officer Andy Jobson said: 'Hale should have known the law. We found concrete, electrical cable, plastic, bricks, thermolite blocks, tree roots, paving slabs and kerb stones and covered an area of 25m by 75m.

'These rules and regulations are in force for a reason - to protect the environment.'